Unsheathed

Night arrived at Downtrodden Mountain, and it looked like snow was about to fall.

Zhu Lian acted pretentiously and showed off his literary talent.

Sunshine after rain and rain again after sunshine; no sun, no rain, as snow arrives again- those in my hometown are the most refreshing and peculiar.

Today, Zhu Lian and Zheng Dafeng were grumbling about each other as they played Go, with Zhu Lian complaining about Brother Dafeng’s gaze being so ”proper” that he scared away Celestial Maiden Huang Ting. Meanwhile, Zheng Dafeng had qualms about the old cook’s lack of cooking skills, which resulted in them being unable to retain the celestial maiden.

This caused Downtrodden Mountain to lose an unofficial guest elder who was a Nascent Tier sword cultivator, a great crime which Zhu Lian needed to pay for by handing a few precious immortal books from his collection to Zheng Dafeng.

Sitting beside them, Wei Bo didn’t understand why they were still arguing about this after so long.

Upon further thought, however, he immediately understood the reason. Perhaps it was because Daoist Nun Huang Ting was beautiful enough?

Zhu Lian looked at Wei Bo and asked with a smile, ”I’ve heard that you’re about to visit the capital to have an audience with the emperor very soon? Perhaps you’ll be able to bring some Dragon Qi back and toss it into the blessed land? Now that will be traveling with a purpose.”

”Indeed. Mountain God Wei can’t just watch our games of Go for free all the time,” Zheng Dafeng concurred.

Wei Bo was utterly helpless. His title as the mountain god of the Northern Mountain had traveled all the way to the Northern Complete Reed Continent now, with the situation so dire that almost everyone knew about him and would try to become acquainted with him.

However, his efforts hadn’t been for naught. Not only had the Lotus Root Blessed Land evolved into a medium-level blessed land after investing thousands of grain rain coins into it, but the atmosphere was also transformed, giving birth to countless mountain and water spirits, lone ghosts and malicious ghosts, as well as talented heroic spirits who had the potential to become deities. Of course, the blessed land would eventually reach an upper limit for its population.

In any case, the more immortal coins that were invested into the blessed land, the loftier the heavens would become and the vaster the lands would become. The fortune of the blessed land would become more abundant, allowing the previous limits to be naturally overcome.

What interested Zheng Dafeng the most was a romance novel that was wildly popular in the Southern Garden Nation. The heroine in the story was a spirit, and she had surprisingly been born from thoughts. However, she was yet to gain sentience, so she was still in a semi-conscious and hazy state. She liked to hover around and secretly observe the unfamiliar world through the many books and picture scrolls.

Her existence was rare, even for the Majestic World.

She had been born into this world in a slightly different manner from Chen Nuanshu.

The birth of this woman could be regarded as a low-level form of the Great Dao’s manifestation, where she was purely born from wisps of thoughts accumulated through the ages, from various kingdoms, and from around the world.

No matter how low-level she was, however, she was still a manifestation of the Great Dao, something hugely impressive in and of itself.

If this were any other blessed land, it was guaranteed that she would be captured soon after being discovered. Potential buyers would be lining up, and she could easily be sold for a jaw-dropping price.

Thankfully, she was born in the Lotus Root Blessed Land, and she came under the jurisdiction of such a young and virtuous mountain master, so she would most likely enjoy fairly good fortune in the future.

Zheng Dafeng wiped his mouth and exclaimed, ”The people are talented, and the lands are brimming with spirit — this place is worth a visit! A fine and timid young lady, a great hero who cherishes beauty — both are equally as important. Indeed, they need to defend against the sinister intentions of those lone ghosts and malicious ghosts.”

”If you ask me, I’d say that staying here in the mountains like this is quite good,” Zhu Lian said.

There had always been a big worry hidden in Zhu Lian’s heart. Be it the Lotus Flower Blessed Land of the past, or be it the Lotus Root Blessed Land of the present, Zhu Lian had always had a nagging feeling that the old temple master had a deep and lasting scheme.

No one would have it easy once they entered the blessed land.

”Since we’ve chosen to enjoy a relaxed and leisurely life, we might as well persist and remain carefree until old age,” Wei Bo also said.

Zheng Dafeng chuckled and said, ”What are you talking about, Old Cook? There’s no shortage of talent at Downtrodden Mountain, so is there any need for us to work hard? We’re genuinely entering the blessed land to stroll around and relax.”

Zheng Dafeng’s Go skills were actually slightly superior to those of Zhu Lian and Wei Bo, so he appeared extremely relaxed as he played Go with Zhu Lian. Meanwhile, the old cook was deep in thought as he looked at the Go board. Seeing this, Zheng Dafeng grabbed a folding fan from the table.

It would be quite inappropriate to use a folding fan during a chilly winter’s day; however, Zheng Dafeng was simply grabbing it for display before quickly tucking it into his sleeve. It was truly a sight to behold for such a handsome man to hold such an elegant item. Indeed, young ladies would definitely be attracted to this as long as they weren’t blind. If they weren’t attracted, then they were simply pretending so or acting coy.

Looking at the current state of Downtrodden Mountain, only Pei Qian was still wandering around outside, with Mister Zhong having taken Cao Qinglang to the Southern Whirl Continent to travel and learn. Even so, things were actually quite lively, and this was because Yuan Lai and Yuan Bao were also staying at Downtrodden Mountain for the short-term to cultivate.

Zheng Dafeng wanted to provide the young girl, Yuan Bao, with some sincere guidance on fist techniques, but it was a shame that the young girl was too timid and shy, just like Cen Yuanji. Because of this, she could only learn fist techniques from a disheveled old geezer instead.

On the other hand, the young boy, Yuan Lai, wanted to learn fist techniques from Zheng Dafeng, but Zheng Dafeng wasn’t very willing to teach him, so he simply taught the young boy some random and miscellaneous knowledge from the books. Yuan Bao scolded her brother many times regarding this matter.

Apart from this, three additional unofficial disciples were now residing at Downtrodden Mountain’s Sword Worship Plateau.

They were legitimate outsiders who hailed from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

There was Golden Core Tier Sword Cultivator Cui Wei.

There were also Zhang Jiazhen and Jiang Qu, who were apparently attendants from some shop.

The three of them hadn’t arrived at Ox Horn Mountain’s ferry station on the Flax Robe Sect’s intercontinental ship, which sailed north from Old Dragon City to the Northern Complete Reed Continent, and they had instead traveled north on a short-distance immortal ship before traveling along the underground channel that had apparently been dug out by a True Dragon. Carrying with them three passports and a Peace and Safety Tablet from the Great Li Empire, they had then traveled north and eventually entered the territory of Downtrodden Mountain after passing Red Candle Town and Go Table Mountain.

Under Zhu Lian’s arrangement, they eventually settled down at Sword Worship Plateau, not creating a single ripple the entire time.

Because the three of them were only unofficial disciples of Downtrodden Mountain, there was temporarily no need for them to offer incense and pay respects to the hanging portraits in the ancestral hall.

With Guest Elder Zhou Fei providing significant funds, the subsidiary mountains of Downtrodden Mountain all entered a construction boom as they started to put together buildings and residences. In Guest Elder Zhou Fei’s words, they should design and build these places in the most expensive manner possible, and there was no need to save money for him. After all, where did the immortal qi in the mountains come from? They came from the mountains of immortal coins, which carried the strongest stench of money!

Cui Wei kept an extremely low profile. Having traveled a long way to reach Downtrodden Mountain, he was already roughly aware of just how valuable a sword cultivator at the peak stage of the Golden Core Tier was in the Majestic World. A Golden Core Tier Qi refiner was enough to host a mountain-opening ceremony, ceremonies that were viewed with great importance by sect-level immortal forces in the Majestic World. Moreover, Cui Wei was destined to become a Nascent Tier sword immortal in the future. However, he was even more restrained than Zhang Jiazhen and Jiang Qu, so much so that he almost appeared timid.

Apart from his bonded flying sword, Cui Wei had only taken two items when leaving the Sword Qi Great Wall: a Dao robe from the garment market and a standard sword from the sword market.

Zhang Jiazhen had received a calligraphy work personally written by Mr. Chen, with its contents reading: Cultivate when the sun is out, and read when rain is pouring. There were two stamps on the calligraphy work, one near the top and one in the middle.

Jiang Qu had received a stack of talismans from Mr. Chen, with one golden paper talisman slipped into the stack.

”Old Cook, you’re just going to toss those two youths at Sword Worship Plateau and ignore them like this?” Zheng Dafeng asked. ”This doesn’t feel very good. How about we send them to the pastry shop where there are more people and vitality?”

Wei Bo smiled and said, ”You can’t put it like this. Zhang Jiazhen hails from the mortal streets and markets, so he doesn’t lack these things.”

Zheng Dafeng smiled and replied, ”See, I feel like Zhang Jiazhen is a decent person, so I’m trying to get him and Little Jiu’er together. We shiver under the blankets by ourselves at night, but is this truly comfortable? Do we want our juniors to follow in our footsteps? I say we don’t. We need to avoid this at all costs.”

Shi Rou was at the pastry shop, and there were three guest elders staying at the Burclover shop: the blind old Daoist priest, Jia Cheng; the lame young man, Zhao Denggao; and the young girl, Tian Jiu’er.

Zhu Lian smiled and said, ”The two young men at Sword Worship Plateau will very likely become successful in the future, but they’ll be relatively late bloomers, so we need to wait patiently.”

”Even if they want to become good-for-nothings, they need to ask for permission from Guest Elder Zhou Fei’s immortal coins,” Wei Bo commented.

”That’s a fair assessment,” Zhu Lian and Zheng Dafeng both said with a nod.

”We’ll ask Little Nuanshu to take note of this matter afterward.” Zheng Dafeng said. ”We can raise it at the next ancestral hall meeting and show Brother Zhou Fei what we said.”

Chen Nuanshu ran over to spectate the games of Go after finishing the tasks at hand.

Chen Lingjun yawned and walked into the courtyard, and upon seeing Chen Nuanshu, he chuckled and remarked, ”Stupid little melon, you still haven’t succeeded in refining that Dragon King Basket yet?”

Before leaving Downtrodden Mountain, Chen Ping’an had given the pair of Dragon King Baskets — which he had obtained from the ruins of an immortal abode in the Northern Complete Reed Continent — to Chen Nuanshu and Chen Lingjun, respectively, asking them to refine these Dragon King Baskets into subjugation treasures for Yellow Lake Mountain, a subsidiary mountain of Downtrodden Mountain.

Chen Lingjun had achieved advanced refinement a long time ago, while progress was very slow with Chen Nuanshu. Of course, this notion of slowness was only in relation to Chen Lingjun. Indeed, Lu Chen had almost taken Chen Nuanshu to the Heavenly World to cultivate in the past, so her talent naturally wasn’t lacking.

Chen Nuanshu remained silent, with a downcast look on her face. Her two small hands were tightly gripping her sleeves.

Wei Bo reached over and placed a hand on Chen Lingjun’s head, after which he leaned down and asked with a smile, ”What did you say?”

Chen Lingjun blinked and said in a serious voice, ”Nuanshu, being diligent is enough when it comes to cultivation. There’s no rush, especially since rushing can very easily lead to mistakes. You need to learn from Master. Only by practicing walking meditation slowly can he throw punches quickly.”

Wei Bo patted Chen Lingjun’s head and said, ”If you don’t watch your tongue, you’d better watch out when Pei Qian returns to Downtrodden Mountain.”

Chen Lingjun almost fell to his knees in front of Great Mountain God Wei Bo upon hearing this. He immediately stood on his tippy-toes and placed his hands on Wei Bo’s shoulders, smiling obsequiously and telling the standing Wei Bo to sit down to speak. That way, he could help massage the esteemed mountain god’s shoulders.

The Northern Complete Reed Continent’s Great Emblem Sword Sect was a top-notch immortal sect, wasn’t it? And Bai Shou, the direct disciple of Sword Immortal Qi Jinglong, was extremely powerful, wasn’t he?

Yet, a single kick from Pei Qian, and he had become a convulsing heap on the ground.

Most importantly — and most frightening of all — Pei Qian was someone who liked to hold grudges.

During their break between fist training, Cen Yuanji, Yuan Bao, and Yuan Lai arrived at the courtyard together to relax.

Upon arriving, what they saw was Chen Lingjun massaging Wei Bo’s shoulders and praising Brother Dafeng for his refined tastes, saying that Zheng Dafeng’s folding fan would definitely cry in gratitude if it possessed sentience, thankful that it had accumulated merit in its previous life and therefore allowing it to be in Brother Dafeng’s possession.

Chen Nuanshu stood up and offered her spot. Cen Yuanji and Yuan Lai didn’t sit, and Yuan Bao expressed her thanks before sitting down.

Chen Lingjun rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner.

This young girl, whom Lu Baixiang had picked up from the streets, was the most oblivious of them all.

On the other hand, just look at those picked up by his master, with him at the forefront. Which of them wasn’t an outstanding prodigy?

Take Little Mili, for example. She was probably squatting at Go Table Mountain and expectantly waiting for Pei Qian right now, right? And she would most likely be carrying a large bag of roasted seeds. Little Mili’s conscience was even bigger than a bag of roasted seeds.

In contrast, Yuan Bao simply enjoyed some good fortune, having arrived at Downtrodden Mountain so late. Chen Lingjun’s master had already risked his life and his Great Dao to learn everything he could about all of the peculiar and enigmatic individuals. Indeed, he had personally dealt with Lu Chen, Ruan Qiong, Old Man Yang, and so on. Otherwise, with Yuan Bao’s temperament, her small head would have already been smacked off her neck a long time ago.

”Do you have something to say, Yuan Bao?” Zhu Lian asked with a faint smile.

Yuan Bao nodded and replied, ”Yes, but that can wait until Mr. Zhu finishes his game of Go first.”

The young girl was quite sharp and intense, but she was also one to follow etiquette.

In any case, Yuan Bao had a very good impression of Senior Zhu Lian. On the other hand, she had a bad impression of Zheng Dafeng and a neutral impression of the mighty mountain god, who always visited Downtrodden Mountain to stroll around for no good reason.